Radiotelephone

ABSTRACT

An electronic radiotelephone comprising a first housing, a second housing, and an inner housing having retaining means for retaining to the inner housing the electronic components of the radiotelephone; and first releasable attaching means for releasable attaching the first housing to the inner housing, wherein the first housing, when attached to the inner housing, is presented towards a user during operation of the radiotelephone; and second releasably attaching means for releasable attaching the second housing to the inner housing, wherein the second housing, when attached to the inner housing, faces away from the user during operation of the radiotelephone.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Divisional of and claims priority under 35 U.S.C.120 to U.S. Ser. No. 09/503,595; filed on Feb. 11, 2000, now U.S. Pat.No. 6,594,472 which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 to UK PatentApplication Number 9903260.9 filed on Dec. 2, 1999.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a radiotelephone.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It has become desirable for users of radiotelephones to replace a brokenor scratched housing of the radiotelephone easily without requiring anyspecial training or tools. Also, users of radiotelephones may want tochange the appearance of their radiotelephone by replacing its housingwith another of a different appearance. While it is known to replace afront cover of a radiotelephone this only allows a user to replace abroken or scratched front cover or change the appearance of the front ofthe radiotelephone, not the overall appearance.

Typically, the front and rear housings of a radiotelephone retain theinternal components of the radiotelephone. Therefore, the removal of thefront and rear housings can result in the internal components of thephone becoming loose and/or exposed thereby increasing the risk of thecomponents being damaged. Further, while the appearance of theradiotelephone battery, which is typically attached to the rear housingof the radiotelephone, can be modified to match that of the front coverthe battery only covers a portion of the rear housing of theradiotelephone. Further, as a battery is a renewable item and mayrequire to be changed separately to the front cover this would requiresuppliers to increase stocks of batteries to cover the range ofdifferent appearances or for a customer to wait while the battery isbeing manufactured and delivered.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there isprovided An electronic radiotelephone comprising a first housing, asecond housing, and an inner housing having retaining means forretaining to the inner housing the electronic components of theradiotelephone; and first releasably attaching means for releasablyattaching the first housing to the inner housing, wherein the firsthousing, when attached to the inner housing, is presented towards a userduring operation of the radiotelephone; and second releasably attachingmeans for releasably attaching the second housing to the inner housing,wherein the second housing, when attached to the inner housing, facesaway from the user during operation of the radiotelephone.

The present invention provides the advantage that a user is able toreplace a broken or damaged front and rear cover or change the overallappearance of the radiotelephone without increasing the risk of theradiotelephone components being damaged and without the need formanufacture's to produce a variety of batteries of different appearancefor the same type of radiotelephone.

Preferably the inner housing has an external surface to allow a user togrip the inner housing to aid the releasing and/or attaching of thefirst or second housing from/to the inner housing.

This provides the advantage that a user is able to grip theradiotelephone sufficiently to allow removal of the first and secondhousings. The grip area preferably comprises an area on each side of theradiotelephone sized to allow a user's finger and thumb to firmly gripthe radiotelephone.

Preferably the first attaching means includes a latching member disposedon the first housing for engagement with a complementary latching memberdisposed on the inner housing.

Suitably the latching member disposed on the first housing is a lugformed on a resilient part of the first housing and the complementarylatching member on the inner housing is a slot to allow the firsthousing to be push-fitted onto the first housing.

Preferably the second attachment means includes a latching memberdisposed on the second housing for engagement with a complementarylatching member disposed on the inner housing.

Suitably the second attachment means allows the second housing and theinner housing to be slidably coupled.

Preferably the first and second housings have interlocking means whichare arranged to interlock the first and second housings when the firstand second housings are attached to the inner housing. This providesextra stability to the construction of the radiotelephone.

Preferably the second housing overlays a battery retained by the innerhousing, thereby concealing the battery when the second housing isattached.

In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention there isprovided a first housing and second housing for an inner electronicradiotelephone housing having retaining means for retaining to the innerhousing the electronic components of the radiotelephone, the firsthousing and second housing having releasable attaching means forreleasable attaching to the inner housing so that the first housing ispresented to a user during operation of the radiotelephone when thefirst housing is releasable attached to the inner housing and the secondhousing faces away from the user during operation of the radiotelephonewhen the second housing is releasable attached to the inner housing.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention there isprovided set of exchangeable cover parts for enclosing a radiotelephonebody containing the electronic components of the radiotelephone, saidset of exchangeable cover parts includes an exchangeable front cover andan exchangeable rear cover, a first one of said set of exchangeablecover parts includes first locking means in a first end of said of firstcover part for engaging the a lower end of the radiophone body in orderto guide said of first cover part in a pivotal movement when attached tothe radiophone body, and second locking means in the end opposite to thefirst end for engaging the upper portion of the radiophone body by meansof a snap-on connection, a second one of said set of exchangeable coverparts for being slidable coupled to the first cover part when placed onthe radiophone body, said second cover part includes third locking meansfor in the upper end of said second cover part for engaging said secondlocking means of the first cover part in order to prohibit a release ofsaid snap-on connection when the set of exchangeable cover parts areassembled with the radiophone body sandwiched in between, fourth lockingmeans for in the lower end of said second cover part for engaging saidfirst locking means of the first cover part in order to prohibit arelease said engagement when the set of exchangeable cover parts areassembled with the radiophone body sandwiched in between, and fifthlocking means for interacting with locking means on the radiophone bodyin order to block the slidability of the second cover part relatively tothe first cover part when placed on the radiophone body, and said fifthlocking means are releasably by means of a user operated release button.

For a better understanding of the present invention and to understandhow the same may be brought into effect reference will now be made, byway of example only, to accompanying drawings, in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a radiotelephone according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of the radiotelephone of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows the inner housing of the radiotelephone of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 shows the first housing of the radiotelephone of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 shows the inner housing of the radiotelephone of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 shows the second housing of the radiotelephone of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a radiotelephone 1 having a first housing 2, otherwisereferred to as a front cover, a second housing 3, otherwise referred toas a rear cover, and an inner housing 4. Sandwiched between the frontcover 2 and inner housing 4 is a keymat 5. The front cover 2 ispreferably made of a resilient material, for example polyarylamid.

In this embodiment, the front cover 2 is releasably attachable to theupper portion of the inner housing 4 by means of a snap-on connection,while the rear cover 3 is releasably attachable to the lower portion ofthe inner housing 4 by means of a slidable coupling. This will bedescribed in detail below. However, other forms of attachment may beused, for example the front cover can be attached by means of a slidablecoupling.

FIG. 2 shows the mechanical structure of the radiotelephone 1. The frontcover 2 includes a bezel window 6, which is attached to the front cover2 by means of adhesive 7. Secured to the underside of the main cover 6is a speaker gasket 8 and LCD dust seal 9. The keymat 5 is snapped onand off the inner side of the main front cover 6. The main purpose ofthe keymat 5 is to act as an interface between the user and thefunctions of the radiotelephone. The rear cover 3 includes a releasebutton 10. The inner housing 4 comprises an upper cover 11 and a lowercover 12 which are coupled together by means of screws 13. Retainedbetween the upper cover 11 and lower cover 12 is the main circuit board13 for providing the main functionality of the radiotelephone, a systemconnector 14, a dome sheet 15 which transforms the movements of the keysinto an electrical connection on the circuit board, a speaker 16, alight guide 17 and a liquid crystal display (LCD) 18.

An internal antenna 19 is mounted to the outer surface of the lowercover 12 by two hooks 20 that mate with two slots 21 on the lower cover12.

The lower cover 12 has a recess 22 to accommodate battery 23. Located onthe bottom edge of the recess 22 are two slots 24 into which are locatedtwo lugs 25 on the bottom portion of battery 23. The top portion ofbattery 23 has a resilient element 26 that engages with a slot on thetop edge of the recess 22 to secure battery 23 to inner housing 4.

FIG. 3 shows a top perspective view of the inner housing 4. A section 27of the side wall projects laterally outward by a constant distance andprovides an area for gripping the radiotelephone 1 while the front cover2 or rear cover 3 is being removed or attached, as described below. Thegrip area 27 on each side of the radiotelephone is sized to allow auser's finger and thumb to firmly grip the radiotelephone. On the narrowsection of each side wall are provided two slots 28.

On the bottom portion of the inner housing 4 are provided two channels29 that extend through the inner housing 4 from the upper cover 11through the lower cover 12.

The wall elements of the front cover 2 have substantially the samecontour as the upper surface of the outer wall section 27 of the innerhousing 4 and are designed so that front cover 2 and inner housing 4 canbe fit snugly together.

The front cover 2 has two attachment lugs 30 on the bottom portion ofthe cover 2. Each lug 30 has a channel 31, as shown in FIG. 4.

On each inner wall of the front cover 2 are located two attachment lugs32, one lug located towards the upper region of the cover 2 the otherone located in the central region of the cover 2. On the upper portionof front cover is provided an attachment element 33 extending away fromthe rear surface. The attachment element 33 has two apertures 34.

To attach the front cover 2 to the inner housing 4 the attachment lugs30 are inserted into the lower channels 29 as shown in FIG. 1. The coveris then moved in direction A until lugs 32 abut the upper surface of thenarrow section of the inner housing 4 positioned above correspondingslots 28. The front cover 2 is then urged towards the inner housing 4.The front cover 2 is preferably made of a resilient material, therebyallowing a user to easily urge the lugs 32 over the upper surface of theinner housing 4 allowing the front cover lugs 32 to snap fit into thecorresponding slots 28 on the inner housing 4. Preferably a userholds/grips the grip area 27 when attaching the front cover 2. To removethe front cover 2 from the inner housing 4 a user preferably holds/gripsthe grip area 27 while urging the top section of the front cover 2 awayfrom the inner housing 4. The front cover 2 is then lifted away from theinner housing 4 in direction B, as shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 shows a bottom perspective view of the inner housing 4 withbattery 23 and internal antenna 19 attached. Each side wall of the innerhousing 4 has a lug 35 projecting laterally inwards. The bottom portionof the inner housing 4 has a release spring 36 which projects slightlyabove the upper surface of the side walls.

As shown in FIG. 6, the rear cover 3 has a first pair of L shapedattachment lugs 37 provided on the central region of each longitudinalside of the cover and a second pair of L shaped attachment lugs 38provided on the bottom region of each longitudinal side of the cover. Inaddition, the rear cover 3 has an aperture 39 for housing release button10 and two attachment lugs 40 provided at the top section of the rearhousing 3.

To attach rear cover 3 to the inner housing 4 the user preferablyholds/grips grip area 27 while the rear cover 3 is disposed adjacent tothe inner housing 4 positioned such that the upper L shaped lugs 37 arelongitudinally separated from lugs 35 on the inner housing 4, as shownin FIG. 1. The rear cover 3 and inner housing 4 are pushed together andthe rear cover 3 is slid in the direction of the rear coverslongitudinal axis allowing the L shaped lugs 37 to engage the innerhousing lugs 35. When the rear cover 3 is attached to the inner housing4 the spring clip 36 projects within the cavity defined by the innersurface of the rear cover 3. Thereby, once the rear cover has beenattached to the inner housing the spring clip 36 prevents the rear cover3 being slid longitudinally and consequently prevents the removal of therear cover 3.

If the rear cover 3 is attached to the inner housing 4 when front cover2 has already been attached the lower L shaped lugs 38 engage withchannels 31 formed in the front cover lugs 30. Further, the upper lugs40 on the rear cover 3 engage with apertures 34 on the front cover,thereby, interlocking the front and rear covers. Thus, the attachment ofthe rear cover 3 secures the front cover 4 to the inner housing andprevents the removal of the front cover while the rear cover is attachedto the inner housing.

To remove the rear cover the radiotelephone is preferably held/grippedin grip area 27 while the release button 10 is depressed in direction C,as shown in FIG. 1, to urge the release spring clip 36 down below thelevel of the inner housing side walls. This allows the rear cover to beslid longitudinally away in direction D, as shown in FIG. 1.

In view of the foregoing description, it will be evident to a personskilled in the art that various modifications may be made within thescope of the claims. For example the first attaching means allows thefirst housing and the inner housing to be slidably coupled.

1. An electronic radiotelephone comprising: a first user exchangeablenon-planer cover part for changing the appearance of the radiotelephonewherein the cover part having a plurality of contours; a second userexchangeable non-planer cover part for changing the appearance of theradiotelephone; an inner housing for retaining and protecting theelectronic components of the radio telephone while user is exchangingthe user exchangeable non-planer cover parts and the inner housinghaving contours matching the plurality of contours of the first userexchangeable non-planer cover part so that the first user exchangeablenon-planer cover part and the inner housing can fit snugly together;first user-releasable attaching means for releasable attaching the firstcover part to the inner housing, wherein the first cover part, whenattached to the inner housing, is presented towards a user duringoperation of the radiotelephone; and second user-releasable attachingmeans for releasably attaching the second user exchangeable non-planercover part to the inner housing, wherein the second user exchangeablenon-planer cover part, when attached to the inner housing, faces awayfrom the user during operation of the radiotelephone.
 2. Aradiotelephone according to claim 1, wherein the inner housing has anexternal surface to allow a user to grip the inner housing to aid theuser in releasing and/or attaching the first or second user exchangeablecover part from/to the inner housing.
 3. A radiotelephone according toclaim 1 or claim 2, wherein the first attaching means includes alatching member disposed on the first user exchangeable cover part forengagement with a complementary latching member disposed on the innerhousing.
 4. A radiotelephone according to claim 3, wherein the latchingmember disposed on the first user exchangeable cover part is a lugformed on a resilient part of the first user exchangeable cover part andthe complementary latching member on the inner housing is a slot toallow the first user exchangeable cover part to be push-fitted onto thefirst user exchangeable cover part.
 5. A radiotelephone according toclaim 1, wherein the second attaching means includes a latching memberdisposed on the second user exchangeable cover part for engagement witha complementary latching member disposed on the inner housing.
 6. Aradiotelephone according to claim 5, wherein the second attaching meansallows the second user exchangeable cover part and inner housing to beslidably coupled.
 7. A radiotelephone according to claim 1, wherein thefirst user exchangeable cover part and second user exchangeable coverpart have interlocking means which are arranged to interlock the firstuser exchangeable cover part and second user exchangeable cover partwhen the first user exchangeable cover part and second user exchangeablecover part are attached to inner housing.
 8. A radiotelephone accordingto claim 1, wherein the first user exchangeable cover part has a userinterface, which in use, co-operates with the inner housing to operatethe radiotelephone.
 9. A radiotelephone according to claim 1, furthercomprising a key mat mounted within the first user exchangeable coverpart, which in use, co-operates with the inner housing to operate theradiotelephone.
 10. A radiotelephone according to claim 1, wherein thesecond user exchangeable cover part overlays a battery retained by theinner housing.
 11. A first user exchangeable non-planer cover parthaving a plurality of contours and a second user exchangeable cover partfor an inner electronic radiotelephone housing having a plurality ofcontours and retaining means for retaining to the inner housing theelectronic components of the radiotelephone, the first user exchangeablecover part and the second user exchangeable cover part having releasableattaching means for releasable attaching to the inner housing so thatthe first user exchangeable cover part is presented to a user duringoperation of the radiotelephone when the first user exchangeable coverpart is releasable attached to the inner housing and the second userexchangeable cover part faces away from the user during operation of theradiotelephone when the second user exchangeable cover part isreleasable attached to the inner housing, and wherein the plurality ofcontours of the first user exchangeable cover match the plurality ofcontours of the inner electronic radiotelephone housing so that thefirst user exchangeable non-planer cover part and the inner electronicradiotelephone housing can fit snugly together.
 12. An electronicradiotelephone comprising: a first user exchangeable cover part having aplurality of contours, a second user exchangeable cover part, and aninner housing retaining the electronic components of the radiotelephonewhile user is exchanging the user exchangeable non-planer cover partsand having contours matching the plurality of contours of the first userexchangeable non-planer cover part so that the first user exchangeablenon-planer cover part and the inner housing can fit snugly together; andfirst releasable attaching means for releasable attaching the first userexchangeable cover part to the inner housing, wherein the first coverpart, when attached to the inner housing, is presented towards a userduring operation of the radiotelephone; and second releasable attachingmeans for releasable attaching the second cover part to the innerhousing, wherein the second user exchangeable cover part, when attachedto the inner housing, faces away from the user during operation of theradiotelephone; wherein the first and second user exchangeable coverparts have interlocking means which are arranged to interlock the firstand second user exchangeable cover parts when the first and second userexchangeable cover parts are attached to the inner housing.
 13. Theelectronic radiotelephone of claim 12, wherein the second userexchangeable cover part has locking means for interacting with lockingmeans on the inner housing in order to lock the second cover partrelatively to the inner housing and prohibit a release of the first userexchangeable cover part, and said locking means are releasable by meansof a user operated release button.
 14. A set of exchangeable cover partsfor enclosing a radiotelephone body containing the electronic componentsof the radiotelephone, said set of user exchangeable cover partsincludes: an user exchangeable front cover and an user exchangeable rearcover, a first one of said set of user exchangeable cover partsincludes: gripping means for interacting with complementary meansprovided on the radiophone body, and resilient locking means forengaging with complementary locking means provided on the radiophonebody, whereby said first one of said set of user exchangeable coverparts may be snapped-on to the radiophone body, said second one of saidset of user exchangeable cover parts includes: gripping means forinteracting with complementary means provided on the radiophone body,locking means for engaging said resilient locking means of said firstuser exchangeable cover part in order to prohibit a release of saidsnap-on connection when the set of user exchangeable cover parts areassembled with the radiophone body sandwiched in between, and lockingand release means for interacting with locking means on the radiophonebody in order to block the slidability of said second one of said set ofuser exchangeable cover parts relatively to the radiophone body, andsaid locking and release means are releasable by means of a useroperated release button.